THE ETHICAL DIMENSION OF HUMAN EXISTENCE
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• When do we say that something is right/wrong or bad/good?
SOURCES OF AUTHORITY
1. LAW – what is right or wrong i
s what is mandate d or prohibited by human positive law.
2. RELIGION – what is right or wrong is whether or not it is dictated or
forbidden by religious codes.
3. CULTURE – what is right or wrong dependent upon what is socially
acceptable or unacceptable relative to one’s culture.
LAW as a Source of Authority
•It is supposed that law is one’s guide to ethical behaviour.
• POSITIVE LAW – rules and regulations affirmed or put in place by an
authority figure and enforced by way of a system of sanctions which
externally compel individuals to obey.
• ETHICS is simply FOLLOWING WHAT THE LAW SAYS.
1.THE PROHIBITIVE NATURE OF LAW
• Tells us what we should not do
• Does not tell us what we should do
• Cannot tell us what to pursue.
• Tells us happens when we do not follow
• Minimalist approach to morality
2. WHAT IS LEGAL MAY NOT BE ETHICAL
• Breaking a promise is not illegal but unethical
• Before, slavery was legal, but it is never ethical
• In India, marital rape is legal, but is it ethical?
• Lying to the dean to have an excused admission
• Firing an employee without prior notice and valid reason
3. WHAT IS ILLEGAL MAY BE ETHICAL
• Stealing food when you are extremely hungry
• Acts of civil disobedience against unjust laws
• Beating the red light or driving without a license to rush a critical person
to the hospital.
• A chief-of-staff refusing the unjust or unconstitutional order of the
president, the commander-in-chief
“NEVER DO ANYTHING AGAINST YOUR CONSCIENSE EVEN THE STATE
DEMANDS it.” -Aristotle
• There is more to ethics than law.
• "The law sets minimum standards of behavior while ethics sets maximum
standards of behavior."
RELIGION as a Source of Authority
• People of religious sensibility find themselves obliged to obey their God in
all things for God is the author of everything including morality.
• DIVINE COMMAND THEORY – a theory which seeks to explain the nature
of right and wrong as dependent on God’s commands.
• An action is right because God commands us to do it and wrong because
He forbids it.
• Advantage of religion to law:
1. is not simply prohibitive but provides ideals to pursue.
2. Provides not only sets of commands but also a SUPREME AUTHORITY
which inspires and compels obedience.
•ETHICS is simply OBEYING WHAT GOD COMMANDS.
1. PROBLEM OF CONFLICTING RELIGIOUS MORAL CODES
• Religious differences—diversity of religion with varying religious codes
and practices
• Are we to judge other religions negatively given their different religious
moral beliefs?
• Are we to convert them to our own faith?
• If religion is the basis of morality, how about those who are irreligious or
non-religious?
2. IS SOMETHING RIGHT BECAUSE GOD COMMANDS IT?
• If what is right or wrong simply depends on God’s commands, then there
is no such thing as inherently right or wrong.
• What is right or wrong becomes arbitrary.
• God commands an action because it is in itself right.
• God forbids an action because it is in itself wrong.
RELIGION as a Source of Authority
• If we acknowledge that there are actions which are by nature right or
wrong, then there are moral standards independent of God commanding it.
 • OBJECTIVE MORAL STANDARDS – standards based on the object itself
independent of the mind and will of subjects—God or human beings.
• Objective moral standards do not necessarily require belief in God in order
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to abide — ”them.
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• There is more to ethics than religion.
• “God commands an act because it is in itself good or right and God forbids
an act because it is in itself bad or wrong."
"MORALITY IS DOING WHAT IS RIGHT REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU ARE
TOLD, RELIGIONIS DOING WHAT YOU ARE TOLD REGARDLESS OF WHAT
IS RIGHT.”
CULTURE as a Source of Authority
• CULTURAL DIVERSITY – cultural beliefs and practices are varied and
diverse.
1. Aesthetic differences
2. Religious differences
3. Etiquette differences
• Cultural diversity results to moral diversity
• Honor killings. Members of some groups think that if an unwed woman
becomes pregnant, it is the obligation of her family to kill her to restore
family honor.
• Parricide. Anthropologists report that many cultures practice parricide—
killing one’s parents—once the parents become aged. It is a practice that
members of the community, including the parents, take to be morally
permissible and perhaps even morally required.
• Premarital sex and wife sharing. Some cultures do not think that there is
anything wrong with premarital sex; indeed, it is condoned as an important
and normal part of courtship. Moreover, in some cultures, it is considered a
great honor if one’s wife engages in sexual relations with other men. ƒ•
• Cannibalism. There are numerous documented cases of cultures that
engage in the eating of human flesh. Members of such cultures think the
practice not only morally permissible but in some cases obligatory.
CULTURAL RELATIVISM
-the view that all beliefs, customs, and ethics are all relative to the
individual within his own social context. In other words, “right” and “wrong”
are culture-specific; what is considered m oral in one society may be
considered immoral in another, and ,since no universal standard of morality
exixts, no one has the right to judge another society’s customs.
• ADVANTAGES OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM
1. In accordance with our experience of differences of moral code and
valuations among cultures.
2. One’s own culture provides the standards in making moral valuations.
3. Teaches tolerance—respect for the beliefs of others. We are not in the
position to judge other cultures.
• MORAL RELATIVISM – a moral view which asserts that there is no single
universal standard of morality and what is morally right or wrong is relative
to the moral code of one’s culture.
• An action is right if it is required by cultural moral code or wrong if
prohibited by cultural moral code.
• ETHICS is CONFORMITY TO CULTURE.
• PROBLEMS WITH CULTURAL (MORAL) RELATIVISM
1. Differences or disagreements do not necessarily mean nobody is
objectively correct and there is no objective truth about the matter in
question.
2. Cultural practices are not perfect and not beyond question and correction
including our own culture.
3. The concept of culture is never static, rigid, and bounded but flexible,
dynamic, and open.
CULTURE as a Source of Authority
• On the positive side, cultural relativism promotes a sense of humility and
respect.
• On the negative side,
1. cultural relativism stifles the human capacity for rational reflection,
questioning, and critical thinking.
2. cultural relativism undermines cultural sharing and cultural boundary
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• There is more to ethics than culture.
• “While specific manifestations of human nature vary between cultures
and between individuals in the same culture, human nature is universal. All
value systems have to make some of the same concessions to the natural
world of which human nature is a part.”—anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn
INTERNAL SOURCES OF MORAL AUTHORITY: • We do things in pursuit of our own self-interest all the time and in a day-
SENSES OF THE SELF to-day basis.
•SUBJECTIVISM – a philosophical view that knowledge and value are • But what about acts of ALTRUISM – the belief and practice of
dependent on and limited by individual subjective experience rather than disinterested and selfless concern for the interest and welfare of others?
objective standards. • A motorist who stops to help someone who a vehicle breakdown.
•Moral statements reflect sentiments, personal preferences and feelings • A person who gives money to charity.
rather than objective facts. • A soldier who throws himself on a grenade to protect others from the
•An act is good because I approve of it and an act is bad because I explosion.
disapprove of it.
• “No one can tell me what is right or wrong.” • STRONG POINTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM:
• CRITIQUE: 1. It is simple. It has a single and direct basis for explanation.
• No one has absolute knowledge over her own situation and of herself in 2. It is plausible. It is easy to see how our daily life is governed by self-
that situation. interest.
• We can be mistaken in our judgment and decision; hence, nobody is 3. It is irrefutable. It can always be explained that whatever we do, we are
immune to error and correction. always motivated by self-interest.
“FOOLS THINK THEY ARE ALWAYS RIGHT”
• “No one knows my situation better than myself.” • CRITIQUE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM:
• CRITIQUE: • Irrefutability does not mean acceptability.
• No situation is open only to one perspective: the individual perspective, • Even if everything is governed by self-interest, there are such things as
the perspective of the agent. noble and inclusive self interest and vain and narrow self-interest.
• No one has the monopoly of any situation, as if no one has ever been in • Psychological egoism leads to a cynical view of humanity which renders it
that situation except oneself. useless for ethics.
• Many human experiences are common. “WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?”
FOOLISH CHILDREN IGNORE THEIR PARENT’S ADVICE •ETHICAL EGOISM – a theory which maintains that human beings ought to
• “I am entitled to my own opinion.” pursue their own selfinterest and they have no obligation to promote the
• CRITIQUE: interest of others.
• Entitlement does not mean and equate to correctness. • “My own self-interest is my utmost concern, while the interest of
• No one is immune to criticism and correction. others is none of my concern.”
• Are all opinion right? • It is a normative theory.
RIGHT TO OPINION DOESN’T MAKE THE OPINION RIGHT • One should consider her own self as top priority.
• PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM – a theory which maintains that all human • CRITIQUE:
actions are fundamentally motivated by self-interest (one’s own welfare). • Making oneself as one’s own top priority does not mean trampling on the
• “Human beings are naturally self-centered, so all our actions are always interest of others.
already motivated by selfinterest.” • Prioritizing oneself is not an obligation exclusive to oneself but an
• It is a descriptive theory. obligation inclusive to everyone.
• The self has its desires and interests, and all our actions are geared toward • Plato’s Ring of Gyges illustrates why one should not only care about one’s
satisfying these interests. own interest.
• eat in order to satisfy my hunger. “KEEP IN MIND THAT THIS WORLD BELONG NOT ONLY TO YOU BUT TO
• I go to work in order to get paid or get promoted. EVERYBODY.” “A MAN IS CALLED SELFISH NOT FOR PURSUING HIS
OWN GOOD, BUT FOR NEGLECTING HIS NEIGHBOR’S.”-RICHARD
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